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#1
los angeles zoo
19-04-2007
los angeles zoo is building a new 'pachyderm forest' for asian elephants. it will cover 3.5 acres and looks alright from the plans, providing space for a herd situation.
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#2
20-04-2007
yes when i ent half of the zoo had been closed
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#3
20-04-2007
From the description on the website, it seems they're housing their golden monkeys outdoors! I'm surprised... it can get pretty hot in the summer in LA
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#4
20-04-2007
Yes, They'll have an indoor area of course.
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#5
18-03-2008
http://www.lazoo.org/support/images/PachydermForest.pdf
That is a link to a 9 page document outling 2009's $40 million elephant exhibit. The outdoor space will be 3.5 acres, and it will be 7 times larger than the current enclosure. |
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#6
25-03-2008
Has anyone visited the Los Angeles Zoo recently? The number of new exhibits that have been built in the last decade is staggering, and the cost must be at least a couple of hundred million dollars. A once poorly rated collection has gradually become a much more highly regarded establishment. I might make my way down to southern California in another couple of years, as by then the zoo should be fantastic.
New Exhibits: 1998 - Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains 2000 - Red Ape Rain Forest 2001 - Children's Zoo 2002 - Animal Health Center 2004 - Children's Discovery Center 2005 - Sea Lion Cliffs & Entry Plaza 2007 - Campo Gorilla Reserve 2008 - Golden Monkey Exhibit 2009 - Pachyderm Forest (3.7 acres of paddocks and 6 acres in total) 2010 - Rainforest of the Americas 2010 - Reptile House |
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#7
26-03-2008
Snow Leopard:
Don't plan a special trip to LA to see the new developments--they are almost without exception disappointing. Chimps of Mahale--combined and reused ugly existing concrete grottoes, added new viewing building (one of a series of "abandoned logging camps" perpetrated on US zoos by CLR architects). Landscape is basically sod lawns with a few hotwired palm trees, and bad rockwork. Chimps got out a few times--and the security additions just made things worse (visually). Pretty nice new holding spaces added however. Red Ape Rain Forest--three linked mesh enclosures for orangs, surrounding a large "Indonesian-inspired" viewing area. Not nearly enough climbing structures included, so often orangs still sit on the ground. Very little sense of "rain forest," even in a climate where you can grow anything. Decent holding area. Children's Zoo--OK, nothing new here Childrens' Discovery Center--basically education offices (nice) with a multipurpose room that until last year had not opened to the public (ran out of $$ to install exhibits). Sea Lion Cliffs and Entry Plaza--huge, very "Hollywood" entry gate (previous director wanted visibility from freeway 1/2 a mile away!). Sea Lion exhibit is horrible--underwater viewing negated by bad reflections, generally poor exhibit detailing throughout. Good IDEA for first animal exhibit--just not pulled off right. Campo Gorilla Reserve--have not seen this in person, but from photos clearly breaks no new ground (Dallas, Seattle, Bronx, Louisville etc. all much better earlier examples). Again, landscape detailing is crude, and poor use of outdoor glass without accounting for annoying reflections (a very common sin in zoo design). Golden Monkey exhibit--not done yet, but basically a mesh tent with a Chinese-themed viewing structure. Will be great if they ever acquire golden monkeys, still a big question last I heard. I would not be surprised to visit in a few years to find some more common Asian primate species in this exhibit. Pachyderm Forest--now in its third design iteration (original included black rhino, hippo with underwater viewing and some smaller species). Current version looks like a good urban zoo elephant exhibit, with all the limitations that suggests. But LA currently only has one ele, and animal rights activists have been all over them based on past bad track record. Huge expenditure--will it be worth it? Rainforest of the Americas--haven't seen designs. But is an indoor rainforest exhibit a good choice in subtropical southern California? Reptile House--spent over $1 million on an avant-garde design by a high-profile architect, then scrapped it and started over from scratch, in a new location. Hope it's a better design--LA had quite an interesting herp collection. Bottom line--well over $150 million will be spent, and not one new exhibit can be described as (a) innovative, (b) beautiful or (c) world-class. A bit of a wasted opportunity. Even in LA, it will be hard to generate that level of public/private funding again in our lifetime. |
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#8
26-03-2008
@reduakari: wow, that was a negative summary of all the new exhibits! It was actually terrific to hear from someone who has visited the Los Angeles Zoo, as it tends to be forgotten with all of the numerous other attractions down in southern California. Two years ago I went to the San Diego Zoo, SD Wild Animal Park, SD Seaworld, Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Francisco Zoo on an epic road trip, and only the San Francisco Zoo was a major disappointment.
It's utterly amazing that the Los Angeles Zoo can spend such an enormous amount of money, and yet end up with substandard exhibits. I wonder if hardcore zoo fans like people here on ZooBeat are much more critical...and perhaps the average zoo visitor will be head over heels with the L.A. Zoo's improvements? |
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#9
26-03-2008
has anyone got the previous designs?
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#10
26-03-2008
What is bottom line?
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#11
26-03-2008
I dont think the American Rainforest exhibit will be indoors, just covered. I have yet to see the plans (i dont even think they have them yet). But it would only make since that it would replace the current aviary complex on the hillside between the main zoo and the entry/children's zoo. It wil probably be mostly netted like San Diego's Rainforest Aviary or Miami's Wings of Asia.
Its ashame that the money was approved in the 1990s, back when everything was cheaper. So unless they magically get a huge benefactor, I expected the new exhibits to be down played more than originally hoped. Basically it is just the wrong time to renovate a zoo in California - look at San Francisco. ...it might actually be cheaper to build it in another place and ship it to California 
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#12
27-03-2008
Great post reduakari! Money does not always translate into great exhibits or a great Zoo!
The Los Angeles Zoo has a lot of small uninspiring exhibits that despite well over a hundred million dollars of Zoo renovations will likely remain for many more years. For example, recently they had a 1,200 square foot exhibit with 4 gaur, 5 axis deer, and 4 blackbuck. If each animal was evenly spaced out they would have a bubble of space around them with a radius of about ten feet  !The Los Angeles giraffe exhibit is not much better. It comprises only 8,000 square feet  . Basically it is a sand pit with some concrete edges and fake concrete banks with vegetation overhead.The tiger enclosure also looks like a giant sand pit with the added bonus of a few plants stuck in and slightly more realistic concrete barriers. Campo Gorilla Reserve is disappointing in part because it was originally designed to have lots of large towering trees with canopies overhanging the majority of the exhibit. They do have a couple of large trees in the completed exhibit, but for the most part it looks quite exposed to me. There is also a conspicuous lack of climbing structures. |
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#13
18-06-2008
Quote:
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#14
18-06-2008
Melbourne zoo staff have to wear harnesses ad-joiing ladders on it's 2 or 3 story climbing structures- for orangs
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#15
18-06-2008
And they climb over the roof of the netted enclosure at melbourne without harnesses
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